"It has been the misfortune of this age, that everything is to be discussed, as if the constitution of our country were to be always a subject rather of altercation than enjoyment." - Edmund Burke anticipates the Neverendum

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

The war against bullshit

I was going to bring you shocking news that Glasgow City Council may have been on the right side of this conflict. Demos - specialists in the production of stupid ideas - are, as everyone knows, bullshitters par excellence and GCC have reacted rather angrily to their most recent report about Glasgow's regeneration:

"A final report, called The Dreaming City: Glasgow 2020 and the Power of Mass Imagination, contained some difficult language.

It recommended "assemblies of hope", networks of individuals who could get together to help shape the city's future and find space for everyone from "alchemists to imagineers".

A city spokesman said: "This report is nothing less than an insult to the many Glaswegians who gave up their time to take part. Bizarre would be a charitable way to describe some of the report's conclusions.

"What on earth is this meaningless nonsense such as 'assemblies of hope', 'alchemists' or 'mass imaginings'?""

However, I'm afraid on balance councillors can't claim to be on the side of the righteous for the following two reasons:

1) It may be written in some of the most painful sentences yet known to man (read it yourself pdf, if you dare), but under the crud Demos actually have the odd point or two. What they meant was Glasgow's regeneration was over-centralised and statist, which is fair criticism. Although obviously they didn't quite put it like that. Why use one word when you can use ten more obscure ones instead? This is the Demos credo.

2) GCC helped fund it, goddammit! What the hell did they expect? Nothing Demos produce is going to win a prize for plain English, now is it?

I conclude that Glasgow City Council is an unreliable ally in the war against bullshit. Prone to shooting themselves in the foot they are - as well as a fairly long history of batting for the other team.